Former referee Mark Halsey says Atletico Madrid were unlucky with referee calls

Mayhem was a strong them running through the entire evening last night when Manchester City came to Madrid in order to face Atletico Madrid.

Players, managers and staff were all involved in a significant degree of mudslinging at one another both during and after the game.

The key flashpoint was challenge by Felipe on Phil Foden, which then saw the English international roll back onto the field of play. As Stefan Savic came across to remove Foden from the field again, a melee of players ensued.

Former referee Mark Halsey maintains that Daniel Siebert, the official in charge, had long-since lost control of the match however.

“The German referee, Daniel Siebert, missed a chance early on to stamp his authority on the game and keep a lid on the aggressive tactics deployed by Atletico Madrid.”

Atletico struggled to keep their tempers in check towards the end of the match, but Halsey does feel they had cause, saying that Los Colchoneros could have had a penalty previously to that.

“In fairness, City got a bit lucky later on when the home side might quite rightly feel they should’ve had a penalty.”

“When you see the replay, you think that Cancelo has not got the ball, he has caught Correa on the shin; there are lots of bodies there and it’s difficult for the referee to see.”

The quotes came from Caught Offside, where Halsey also analysed the key incident from the Real Madrid-Chelsea tie. According to Halsey, Marcos Alonso’s goal was rightly disallowed.

“Marcos Alonso’s goal looked fine at first, but it’s clear from the video replays that it had to be disallowed.”

“In real-time you don’t see anything wrong with his goal but when you see the replay, it just brushes his hand and obviously then he puts the ball into the back of the net.”

Tags Atletico Madrid Champions League Manchester City
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